We Have A Winner!

Today was the big day. I went in for my turn as guest reader in my son's fifth grade class. After much hemming and hawing (I hear you; I need a hobby), I chose Lane Smith's brilliant picture book, John, Paul, George & Ben. It takes hilarious liberty with snippets of history about John Hancock, Paul Revere, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. It met the requirements of being short, entertaining, and not at all babyish. Since my son's class has been studying the American Revolution in social studies it seemed like the perfect choice. There were giggles and laughs and audience participation at the end when I quizzed the students with the true and false questions Smith provides to set the record straight. In it we learned that while Benjamin Franklin did invent bifocals and the Franklin stove, he did not invent PlayStation76. This book is a lot of fun for kids who know a bit of American history. Without that bit of background, the humor is lost.

In other business, I know that I have not done a Foodie Friday post here in months. I'm not sure if I will start it up again. It is worth noting, however, that I am currently reading Ree Drummond's The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook. Last night I was inspired to make her "Comfort Meatballs" (pages 172-173). Some people sing for their supper; last night I sang to my supper. To know, know, know you is to love, love, love you... Delicious! Next up from The Pioneer Woman Cooks: "Simple, Perfect Enchiladas" (pages 176-178).

Foodie Friday During Old School Week

School is back in session, and no matter what I pack in my kids' school lunches, they get off the school bus, "Starving!" and "Sooooo Hungry!" Therefore, the topic of after school snacks has been much on our minds and in our conversations. These children are not satisfied with what was a perfectly acceptable after school nosh when I was a kid: pretzels and juice. They want cheeses and nuts, pomegranates and petit fours. Well, maybe they're not that demanding, but still...

While I was lecturing them recently on this topic, they reminded me that Harriet from Harriet the Spy ate a slice of cake and a glass of milk after school every single day. While they all love cake, they did think a slice of it each day would get old.

Then Ethan told me about an "old fashioned snack kids ate a really long time ago." He went on to explain how moms in the olden days would put peanut butter and sometimes raisins inside a stalk of celery. This was all related in a "Can you imagine?" sort of way. Can I imagine? Those ants on a log, while never a staple in the house I grew up in, showed up regularly at class parties and friends' houses in my youth. That is an old school snack never to show up again in schools with all of the nut allergy awareness these day.

I've got cucumber slices, grapes, and Ritz crackers ready for when my kids come home today. A tall stack of Ritz crackers was a favorite after school snack for me years ago. What was your favorite after school snack?

Foodie Friday: Soup Kitchen Chicken

When my babies were first born, I assumed that they were Americans, two boys and one girl of mixed Irish, Scottish, English, German, and a little Lithuanian descent. The ensuing years have proven me wrong. I gave birth to three Italian grandmothers who want to feed the world. "Mangia!" they practically shout at their friends who come over to play as they push snack options at them. While they may not always share their toys, books, and patience, they always want to share food with others. When we go to a party or potluck, they urge me to make my best recipes. When their aunt was undergoing chemotherapy last summer and we were on a dinner cooking rotation for her and her husband, they threw themselves into the project with gusto, thinking about the recipes, writing up hand lettered menus, and helping deliver the food to her home. One time, my then five year old son insisted on wearing a sombrero as we delivered a meal of Mexican lasagna and tortilla chips. My sister-in-law wasn't home so we left the food in a cooler by her front door, but at least we gave the neighbors an eyeful. When my children's religious education classes were collecting canned goods for food baskets last Thanksgiving, my daughter was horrified that she was assigned to donate yams. Her heart broke for the poor children that would get her class basket. She's not a fan of yams you see. She convinced me to donate a few boxes of instant hot chocolate as well. Given their desire to feed others, it is not surprising that we spent a wonderful afternoon last week purchasing ingredients for and cooking a chicken casserole to be served at a local soup kitchen. Of all of our projects this summer, that was my favorite. At church one recent Sunday, we received an empty aluminum casserole pan, a recipe, and directions for delivering the frozen casserole to the church parking lot the next Saturday morning where the meals would then be delivered to a soup kitchen near us that serves a hot lunch to over 200 people 365 days a year. First we had to shop for the ingredients. The children located everything on the store shelves. It was a great lesson in comparison shopping, reading, and nutrition. If I thought it was hard for me to eat nothing from a box, check out the recipe below to see how impossible it is for the poor and homeless. We brought our purchases home and prepared the casserole together. Lessons were learned there in patience, food handling, and more math. I'm always going on about nonfiction reading, and this was an ideal nonfiction reading experience. All three of my little Italian grandmothers obsessed over the meal being cooked just right and made to look appetizing. They talked about how sad it would be to have to patronize a soup kitchen and things they hope the people who run it do to make the experience as nice as possible for the diners. All three asked if we can do it again next month. Talk about a win-win situation! Here's the recipe in case you are curious:

Eva's Kitchen Chicken Casserole

6 Large Boneless Chicken Breasts (cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces)
2 Boxes Rice-A-Roni (Chicken Flavor)
1 Package Frozen Peas
1 Can Cream of Celery Soup
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 1/2 Cups Water

Prepare rice according to directions on box. Mix rice, peas, chicken, soups, and water together. Spread into greased pan. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until heated through. Serves 10.

Updates

Okay, eating no packaged foods is HARD! I don't mean hard like when I beg my husband and kids to help me fold a load of laundry because it's HARD (and it is). No, this is really hard. We can't seem to get more than two consecutive meals before breaking out a boxed, bagged, tubed, or shrink wrapped item. I have noticed how very much pasta I serve my family as well as prepackaged snack foods like crackers and cookies. Even if I fail to get 48 straight hours with nothing from a box, I am becoming much more aware of what we put in our mouths. So that's something. And, since it's not just about our health, but the health of the planet, we finally bought a Sig water bottle for our youngest son so we now each have one and we have been great about using them in place of plastic water bottles for the last six months or so.

On the reading front, I found out I'll be teaching The Red Badge of Courage this year. I haven't read it in 15 to 20 years. Does anyone out there remember it? Any thoughts? Memories? Ideas? Warnings? I guess we know what I'll be getting from the library when I go back to look for more healthy cook books.

Nothing From A Box?!

While on vacation last month, my husband, kids, and I played many rounds of a game we'll call "Don't Say A Particular Word." For instance, one evening during dinner the challenge was to avoid saying the word "and." My sons and I were out in less than two minutes. My husband lasted until we were washing up the dishes. My nine year old daughter held out the longest. With a few exceptions, that's pretty much how all of the rounds went all week. My sons and I talk a lot and often without thinking. My husband is less loquacious than us and our daughter always thinks carefully before she opens her mouth, game or not. Despite the fact that those two kept winning, it was a great game because it got us thinking about how frequently we use certain words in conversation. Try an afternoon without "it," "the," or "to." It was also good because whoever got "out" first usually laughed about it and didn't pout or stomp off- a major step in our family's game playing evolution.

I am currently considering a different, much more challenging, game of avoidance for the family. Instead of "Don't Say a Particular Word," it's "Don't Eat Anything From A Box." If you know me, you know that's going to be more difficult than having a conversation without using any word with letters in it. We like our cornflakes, cookies, and Saltine crackers over here at the Book Bench. On the other hand, with books like The Omnivore's Dilemma (and everything by Suzanne Sommers) and films like The Future of Food out there, there is a high level of discourse in America right now not just about the health implications of our food choices, but the environmental, economic, and ethical implications as well.

These conversations about responsible eating are not just being held on CSPAN and liberal arts college campuses. I've been talking about it with the other moms at the lake while our kids have been splashing around this summer. So you know it's reached the people. I've always tried to feed me family healthy foods, but I'm far from perfect and could really up my game. Recently, a friend told me about a woman she met recently, "a health food nut," who doesn't feed her family anything from a box. Nothing from a box? Reactions were swift and strong. I think I was loudest. Crazy! Impossible! Expensive! But I've been sitting with the idea and have decided to give it a try for 48 hours. I'm a little pissed that I didn't start yesterday because the kids and I made our own bread, but now it's gone. And of course I'm looking for loopholes- perhaps the girls at the Dunkin' Donuts drive through window could throw our munchkins in a bag instead of a box? If it used to be packaged in a box but now comes in a "new, resealable pouch!" does that count?

As with all my projects, I picked up a few books at the library to get me started. I have to admit that I haven't yet cooked anything in Mariel's Kitchen: Simple Ingredients for a Delicious and Satisfying Life by Mariel Hemingway, but to be honest, not much in it appeals to me and I don't know where I would find many of the ingredients such as Xylosweet, whey protein, and hemp protein powder.

On the other hand, I cannot wait to start making some of the recipes in Almost Meatless: Recipes That Are Better for Your Health and the Planet by Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond. The authors are sensible rather than militant in their philosophy and present recipes with ingredients I recognize. The photos delicious. Some recipes call for meat, but in smaller quantities than traditional recipes. Moreover, an explanation is given for using grass feed beef and more expensive "certified humane" organic chicken. This book might really help me with the nothing out of a box challenge.

I have yet to spring the idea on my family. Wish me luck with that and with avoiding convenience foods. If you're headed my way with a Nutter Butter in your hands in the next week or so, kindly keep it out of sight. My dignity will thank you. I'll keep you posted.

Foodie Friday Tidbits

A number of blogs I read run a Random Thoughts Tuesday feature. Today's post here could be called Random Friday Foodie Book Stuff. First, we got a hold of Eric A. Kimmel's fun new picture book, The Three Little Tamales, that I wrote about here several Fridays ago. It is a retelling of the three little pigs story featuring adorable tamales. My older kids have read it aloud several times to my six year old son. It begs to be read with accents and silly voices.

We've also recently read Wiggens Learns His Manners at the Four Seasons Restaurant about a cute little puppy who learns some etiquette lessons. It would probably be best for a preschooler or kindergartner read together with an adult.

My last bit of Foodie Friday randomness (besides mentioning that I need to get to the grocery store pronto) is that I flipped through Roy Finamore's new cookbook, Tasty, just before bed last night. It is filled with scrumptious sounding recipes that seem relatively simple and don't call for too many ingredients. I had several food dreams last night, including one about sundried tomatoes and crusty French bread which made me drool all over the pillowcase. Sadly, when I woke up this morning, Cornflakes and frozen waffles were my only breakfast options. As I said, I must get to the food store.

Have a great weekend!

Foodie Friday: Tamales

I have not yet read this book; I just want to because

a) How cute is that bespectacled tamale?
b) I love the idea of anthropomorphized tamales!
c) It's a retelling of a fun classic, The Three Little Pigs.
d) It's fun to say "hot tamales."

Foodie Friday: Foodie Puns

My kids and I have been enjoying puns lately. The "cornier" the better. That's me sticking with the foodie theme. Prepare to groan. Feel free to share your own foodie pun, or any pun for that matter.

Did you hear about the guy who brought his umbrella to the ice cream parlor? He had heard there was a chance of sprinkles.

Those who forget the pasta are condemned to reheat it.

When the cannibal showed up late to the luncheon, he was given the cold shoulder.

Did you hear about the butcher who backed into a meat grinder? He got a little behind in his work.

Speaking of butchers, what do they say when you ask, "Is that pure rump roast?"
"Nothing butt."

Foodie Friday: Cupcakes!

Do you know that there are currently 7,986 different cupcake cookbooks currently in print? No? Well, then you aren't too gullible, but there are many, many cupcake cookbooks out there. The Martha Stewart machine just released one this week. I really would like to like that swirl of chocolate frosting right off its cover. That might raise a few eyebrows in my local bookstore. I haven't checked the book out yet other than casually flipping through it.
What I have sampled is the recipe for Lemon Coconut Snowballs (heaven on earth!) from Elinor Klivas' Cupcakes!
My sister has made them twice recently causing me to twice make a spectacle of myself in the over-indulgence department. Cupcakes! is a great little recipe book with gorgeous photos and clear instructions. I particularly like my sister's copy as it has some batter drips on the pages, the true mark of a successful baking book.
Cupcakes are enjoying a bit of a moment in the sun right now. I've seen ice cream cakes in cupcake size at the grocery store, visited many cupcake-themed blogs, and nearly tripped over the stacks of cupcake cookbooks at the bookstore. They are indulgent without going overboard, whimsical, evocative of childhood, and hopefully, delicious. They are also probably in my near future as I'm getting hungrier with each word I type about them!

Foodie Friday: I Need to Brush My Teeth Just Looking at This

I'm sorry I have no foodie book recommendation for you today. I'm still busy marveling at the New Jersey cake assembled and decorated by my son's fourth grade class yesterday. It was the culmination of a year of studying New Jersey in social studies. I baked and my husband cut out Ocean County, home of the Jersey Shore. Aaron decorated it with brown sugar sand, Swedish fish, drink umbrellas, and more. Parents were invited into the school to go on a "cake walk" from classroom to classroom admiring all the cakes. When I was baking and transporting Ocean County I was a skeptic and may even have referred to it as "that bleepin' cake." Perhaps I used somewhat stronger language, but I am a convert. I was so impressed by the organization of all those fourth grade teachers and the creativity of the students that this is all I've got for you this Foodie Friday. Inhale deeply and you might still be able to catch the scent of lots and lots of sugar!

Foodie Friday: Feed Me with Stories

What makes a great cookbook? Easy to follow instructions, obtainable ingredients, lots of photographs, and a large font are all important. I suppose tasty recipes help too, but my favorite part of a cookbook is its stories. I love the history of a recipe. What inspired it? Where did the author first eat or create it? Did she us artichokes because that was all she had in her pantry? Did his grandmother make this particular chicken soup when he was sick as a child? Did her Indian nanny have these nuts as an after school snack? It's the back story that sells me on trying a recipe. Many of the cookbooks I read come from the new nonfiction shelf at my town's public library. When a new one comes in, I will flip through the pages. The longer the paragraph after the title and before the list of ingredients for each recipe, the more likely I am to check out the book.

I looked through the cookbooks on my home bookshelves to share a favorite this Foodie Friday and I found one with lots of good stories and tidbits. It is River Run Cookbook by Jimmy and Maya Kennedy and Marialisa Calta with a forward by David Mamet. Yes, that David Mamet. River Run is a tiny restaurant in rural Vermont with some very loyal local patrons, including Mamet. The menu of the restaurant and the contents of this book are largely Southern comfort favorites with Northern touches. There's Fried Catfish, Grits, Pulled Pork, Coca Cola Cake, and a number of items featuring black-eyed peas to name a few. I'm not a fan of black-eyed peas, but I'm still a big fan of this book. It gives the reader a sense of the small town community from whence it came. Where the recipes originated and/or which customers and employees favor them are revealed along with lots of black and white pictures.

Flipping through River Run Cookbook, I spotted a recipe for "Really Big Buttermilk Biscuits" that I've never tried. As I have a few cups of buttermilk in the fridge, purchased to make some lovely lemon raspberry muffins on Mother's Day, I think I'll give it a go. I do love me some biscuits! I'll let you know how they turn out. Hopefully that'll be a story with a happy ending.

Foodie Friday

I didn't have any good foodie books to recommend last Foodie Friday and I asked for your culinary inspiration. From the lack of comments, I'm guessing I'm not the only one serving up too much canned soup and/or sandwiches lately. Today's mail (the old fashioned kind that comes out of a metal box) brought me my favorite guilty pleasure, Entertainment Weekly magazine, an early birthday gift from my husband. It lists some fun foodie websites including Smitten Kitchen which I mentioned last Friday and This Is Why You're Fat. I checked it out and it is worth a visit. I'm curious, does it make you hungry or does it make you want to take a very long scaldingly hot shower before throwing together a salad? I'm on the fence myself.

Foodie Friday: Hey, Hey, Good Lookin'...

I'm turning to you for help today as no good Foodie Friday books have come across my desk or appeared on the book bench this week. There are no new cookbooks on my library's new nonfiction shelf. Moreover, I am in a cooking rut lately. It's been a lot of the same old same old for dinner around here in recent weeks. Usually I can go to Rachael Ray or The Pioneer Woman for a little recipe inspiration, but I'm just not feeling it this week. Yes, I'm feeling envious of the pioneer woman's gorgeous kitchen and pots and pans (the pot is always cleaner...), but she hasn't gotten me out of my culinary rut. A recent visit to her website did lead me to the Smitten Kitchen which is a great blog about home cooking from a New York city apartment. Although she's got gorgeous food photos and good ideas, I'm still suffering some cooking ennui. So I ask you, where do you turn for recipe ideas or a culinary kick in the pants when you're in a rut? What's your favorite cookbook, cooking show, or food blog? What's your favorite meal to prepare? What ingredient inspires you? Share with me, please, or my kids might stage a revolt and smother me in the night with the umpteenth grilled cheese sandwich I may be forced to make them for dinner tonight.

Perhaps Not So Family Friendly Foodie Friday? You Be The Judge

I work hard to keep The Book Bench a family friendly place to visit. You would think it would be easy as it is mostly about children's books and family reading, but sometimes I have to rein it in a bit. I just finished reading a cookbook/memoir/philosophical tome which is a bit of a headscratcher for me as to whether or not it can be included on this family friendly blog. It was written by Kenny Shopsin (with Carolynn Carreno). Kenny is the colorful and cranky proprietor and cook of Greenwich Village's corner grocery turned family restaurant, Shopsin's. Shopsin's was beautifully captured in a New Yorker essay by Calvin Trillin quite a few years ago which, thankfully, is included in Eat Me. Both Trillin and Shopsin himself make it clear that Kenny Shopsin can be rude, abrasive, vulgar, and an excellent cook.
So, is this a family friendly book? On the negative side, it is full of expletives and questionable descriptions of food (orgasmic or having the consistency of a nipple, for example). On the other hand, it is filled with many, many great recipes that would appeal to all types of eaters and about as many interesting and often sentimental stories. Kenny and his wife basically raised their children in the restaurant and his writing reveals his unabashed love of family. The cookbook includes many great photos and a cover gimmick that my kids couldn't resist playing with repeatedly. The cover shows a white egg. At the top, a little tab reads "Do not pull." Who could resist? When the tab is pulled, the egg turns into a photo of a plate with a fried egg, toast, and bacon.
I found Eat Me a fun and fascinating read. It was nice to learn that Kenny's famous pancakes begin with Aunt Jemima frozen pancake batter. He argues that pancakes are all about the equipment, physics, and chemical reaction. Furthermore, he tells anyone who would question his use of frozen prepared batter to face what pancakes really are: "...flour and milk drowned in butter and some form of sugar. As far as food value, you might as well take Crisco, whip it up with powdered sugar, and spread it on your face. I'm not saying that they're not delicious or you shouldn't eat them, but they're a luxury, a recreation, like smoking marijuana or having sex." See what I mean?

Pizza Friday!

It makes perfect sense that I would choose pizza as the focus of this Foodie Friday. It's in fact surprising I haven't used it on any past Fridays considering how many Friday nights I order it for dinner. By the end of a week of school, homework, sports, and activities, my mind and energy are often too fried to come up with a great dinner idea. Pizza and a salad makes a terrific default dinner. Pizza is the ideal food to serve kids. It's tasty, it includes three major food groups, it can be eaten without utensils, and let's hand it to God and the Italians for creating an entree that is so helpful in teaching fractions. Moreover, if you do like my dad did when I was a kid and tear the delivery box into plate sized pieces, you've got no dishes to clean. It's no wonder there are so many kids' books on the topic. For this Foodie Friday, I'm going to share a beloved old family favorite and a fun new find. We've had Pizza Pat on our bookshelves since my eight and ten year olds were toddlers. It has been joyfully read so many times it is now held together with Scotch tape and hope. This easy reader by Rita Golden Gelman and illustrated by Will Terry tells the story of a pizza baked by chef Pat and stolen by a bunch of rats in the style of a cumulative poem such as "The House That Jack Built." It is addictively fun to read such lines as "This is the oven 800 degrees, that cooked the pizza and melted the cheese that topped the sausages, spicy and choppy, that sat on the sauce, all gooey and gloppy, that covered the dough, all stretchy and floppy, that lay in the tray that Pat bought." Pat and his pizza helped all three of my kids learn to read, making it as beloved and utilized as the phone number to our local pizzeria that delivers.

Our new literary pizza find is Tony and the Pizza Champions, a picture book energetically illustrated by Matthew Trueman and written by Tony Gemignani. Tony is, according to the dust jacket, "a world renowned pizza acrobat and chef." Tony and the Pizza Champions tells the story of the team he assembled to go to the World Pizza Championshp. Readers get a little geography as he criss crosses the USA to collect Mighty Mike and Strong Sean from Ohio, Silly Siler, a unicycling pizza chef from South Carolina, and Famous Joe, a sky high pizza tosser from New York City. Like any good team, the guys have to practice, and then they fly to Italy for the big competition. Gemignani the author uses this opportunity to show some of the many ways people eat pizza around the world, such as the Brazilians who like ketchup on their pies and the Swedes who enjoy them with coleslaw on the side. This is one of several features of the book that would make it a fun elementary school classroom read. Happily, the book ends with Tony and his team winning the world championship, and it includes recipes and illustrated instructions for tossing pizza dough. The process is pretty nicely explained in the book, but you can also check Tony out on YouTube.

Buon appetito!

Foodie Friday: Spud Lover's Delight

Several weeks ago, I included Tomie dePaola's Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato on a Foodie Friday. It bears mentioning again with St. Patty's Day just around the corner, and it set me to thinking about other potato based books I know. Here are a few:
Potatoes, Potatoes is a great little antiwar picture book for preschool through third grade by Anita Lobel

The Greatest Potatoes is a fun historical fiction picture book written by Penelope Stowell and illustrated by Sharon Watts for that same age group.

For eight to twelve year olds, I highly recommend Patricia Reilly Giff's Nory Ryan's Song which deals with the potato famine in Ireland in the mid 1800's.

I'm no Martha Stewart, and certainly no one should be taking cooking lessons from me, but I recently tried a new (to me), easy and scrumptious way to make potatoes. I combined two recipes, one from a cooking show and one from a magazine, for Hasselback Potatoes. The result? Garlicky, buttery heaven on a fork. Jamie O'Rourke's neighbors might not have gotten tired of potatoes so soon had they tried these:

Christine's Hasselback Potatoes

14 small red waxy skinned potatoes

2 cloves garlic, sliced paper thin

1/4 cup butter melted with 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Clean potatoes.

2. Place one potato in the bowl of a large wooden spoon. Start at one end and make slices two thirds of the way through potato. Continue to end of potato. Stick two or three garlic slices in the potato slits. Repeat with all potatoes.

3. Place potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet. Pour melted butter/oil combo on top. Roll potatoes around to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for one hour.

4. For total decadence, serve with sour cream.

5. Enjoy!

Random Food and Book Thoughts on Foodie Friday

On Fridays I like to feature a food related book here at The Book Bench, but this Friday I've just got a bunch of random food and book thoughts I need to clean out of my mental closet. Heaven knows that's the only really spring cleaning I care to do.

1. My daughter has been enjoying The Everything Kids' Cookbook by Sandra Nissenberg this week. It has kept her busy in the car, at the school bus stop, and in the waiting room at the dentist's office because it has word searches and scrambles, puzzles, and games as well as recipes and cooking tips for kids.

2. Peeps are back in the stores! Sure, there were Peep pumpkins in October and Peep snowmen and Christmas trees in December, but we all know the old school bunnies and chicks are the best. Have you ever put one in the microwave and watched it puff up? Good times. Speaking of Peeps fun, my kids learned the meaning of the idiomatic expression "gilding the lily" a few years back when we dipped the bottoms of Peep chicks in melted chocolate and then sprinkles. They were fun to make, really cute, and disgustingly sweet. Http://www.marshmallowpeeps.com/ is worth a visit with kids if you love those little marshmallows the way we do in my household. They are a fat and gluten free food by the way.



3. I think I mentioned that I have begun my third read aloud of Harry Potter, this time to my youngest. Somehow it got all three kids talking about the Harry Potter books and their favorite characters, settings, and plot points. We all agreed that we love Honeydukes Sweet Shop purveyors of chocolate frogs, pumpkin pasties, Bertie Botts' every flavor beans, and more. Interestingly, they noted that although it is a wonderful reading experience that Honeydukes sells enchanted treats, candy stores in and of themselves are magical places.

4. There is no easy segue from magical candy stores to Cormac McCarthy's bleak and gripping The Road. My husband is finally reading it and finding himself pulled into the store. As we were discussing it this week, I told him that every single time I have opened a can of food (soup, sauerkraut, stewed tomatoes) since reading The Road more than a year ago, I have thought of the man and the boy.

5. Speaking of me and cooking, here's an effect of the current economic nightmare: every night as I put dinner on the table, I find myself mentally calculating how much it cost to prepare per person. For example, Tuesday's Mexican lasagna night cost about $2.80 a person, but last night's grilled cheese sandwiches and fruit cost about a buck a person. I never really did these calculations on a regular basis before, but lately I can't help myself.

Those are my random Foodie Friday thoughts. Anything new with you and food?

Attack Of the Giant Foods on Foodie Friday

Something about food falling from the sky or appearing in giant size appeals to the imagination and hunger in all of us. Kids especially love stories with enchanted foods. Think Willy Wonka or Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Because of this, they inspire great writing from kids. Two that I think pair nicely for a writing lesson are Tomie de Paola's Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato and Robert Weinstock's Giant Meatball. In de Paola's story, a retelling of an Irish folktale, Jamie O'Rourke "tricks" a leprechaun into giving him a magic pratie (potato) seed which grows into the largest potato ever. It uproots his home and blocks traffic. The focus here is on plot and how the O'Rourkes and their neighbors deal with the situation. Giant Meatball is more about wordplay and language. A very large and very self absorbed meatball rolls through a "snoozy little town" creating all sorts of problems until he gets his comeuppance in the end. It's a fun story for little children but worth reading with students as old as fourth or fifth grade to examine Weinstock's word choices. His diction is kitchen-inspired. The librarian "stews" and the town marmalade maker "boils" at all the noise and trouble caused by the meatball. The mayor suggests that they ask him to be "a dash" more considerate and everything will be "peachy." This would be a great launching point for a lesson on word choice. What are some sports verbs, musical adjectives, or weather related words? Now use them in a poem. It might also inspire some imaginative essay and story writing. What giant food would you want to show up on your doorstep? Personally, I'd adore a massive, house sized doughnut in my driveway, but not powdered. I despise dusting!

Bring Me Some Apples on Foodie Friday

I've got a great picture book with rhymes and recipes on this Foodie Friday. It's Bring Me Some Apples and I'll Make You a Pie: A Story About Edna Lewis by Robbin Gourley. Edna Lewis was born in 1916 in a farming community founded by her grandfather and two other emancipated slaves. She grew up to be a famous, award winning chef when there weren't many celebrated female or African American chefs. She was a proponent of Southern regional cooking and bringing ingredients fresh from the field to the table. I learned this about her from the author's note at the end of the book. The bulk of Bring Me Some Apples follows one growing and harvesting season in Edna's childhood. She and her family harvest and eat strawberries, wild greens, wild honey, cherries, blackberries, peaches, tomatoes, watermelon, corn, beans, grapes, apples, pecans and walnuts as they ripen. With each new crop, Edna speculates on what she should make with that food. For instance, when she and her father collect wild honey, she thinks about honey sweetening hot biscuits in the morning. For each food, there is also a bit of folk wisdom or poetry, such as

"A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay

A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon

A swarm of bees in July is not worth a fly."

Gourley's beautiful watercolor illustrations make me long for summertime and fresh fruits and vegetables. She wisely includes four of Edna Lewis' recipes updated for modern kitchens and young cooks. The title of the book tells us this is "a story about Edna Lewis." I want more stories about her. It inspired me to learn more about her adulthood and career which makes it successful nonfiction for children in my opinion.

D is for Dragon Dance on Foodie Friday

I am going to continue my celebration of the lunar new year by sharing a great little alphabet book, D is for Dragon Dance, written by Ying Chang Compestine and illustrated by Yongsheng Xuan. Some element of Chinese culture or the celebration of Chinese New Year is presented for each letter of the English alphabet, going from a for acrobats to z for zodiac. Most of them include a bit of explanation. For instance, it is explained that (R) red envelopes given to children contain good luck money. As with most cultural celebrations, food plays an important role in Chinese New Year. D is for Dragon Dance includes n for noodles, o for oranges, p for Peking duck, s for steamed dumplings, and two recipes at the end, one for dumplings and the other for soy garlic dipping sauce. This nicely illustrated and informative book would make an excellent addition to a preschool or kindergarten classroom where you often find collections of alphabet books.